Ryan Willerton, Director of the Office of Community Standards in the Division of Student Affairs, was awarded the 2016 Rev. John Francis “Pop” Farley, C.S.C. Award at the Division’s annual year-end reception in May.

Jimmy and Susan Dunne of New York City and Jay and Mary Flaherty of Los Angeles have each made $20 million gifts to the University of Notre Dame for the construction of two new residence halls on campus. Dunne Hall for men and Flaherty Hall for women will open this August for the 2016 fall semester.

More than 90 percent of students at the University of Notre Dame are familiar with and understand the University’s sexual misconduct and sexual assault policy, but 6 percent of women and 2 percent of men report they have personally experienced non-consensual sexual intercourse, and 19 percent of women and 4 percent of men experienced other forms of non-consensual sexual contact. Those are among the results of the Sexual Conduct and Campus Climate Questionnaire administered last year by Notre Dame. All enrolled students were invited to participate in the survey, and 38 percent responded.

The University of Notre Dame’s Division of Student Affairs recognized seven students at the 30th annual Student Leadership Awards Banquet on Thursday (April 7). These annual awards honor current students who have made exceptional contributions to the Notre Dame community.

Nine University of Notre Dame graduate students will compete for prize money and a bid to the regional championships during the Three Minute Thesis competition on March 16. Known as 3MT, the competition features graduate students across all disciplines explaining their research in clear and succinct language appropriate for an audience of specialists and non-specialists alike, all within three minutes.

Green Dot, a national program that promotes bystander intervention in the fight against sexual assault and violence on campus, unites the array of other initiatives to address the problem in a way that builds a safe culture by enlisting everyone – staff, faculty and students – to do their part for the cause.

“Everybody has some part in it,” says Christine Caron Gebhardt, co-chair of the Committee on Sexual Assault Prevention (CSAP) and director of the Gender Relations Center. “Nobody has to do everything, but everybody has to do something. It helps people to realize that you have to send a cultural message as a campus that violence is not OK – and that students, faculty and staff are supporting that."

It will begin, fittingly, at the Hesburgh Library Reflecting Pool, a serene spot on campus designed to encourage serious thought and meditation. A midnight march will kick off the University’s celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I hope you will use this occasion to reflect on the values that are so central both to King’s legacy and to Notre Dame’s mission,” the University’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., said.

In accordance with the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame will open a symbolic Door of Mercy on Dec. 13, the Third Sunday of Advent. The opening of the door will mark the beginning of the extraordinary Holy Year. Rev. Peter Rocca, C.S.C., Basilica rector, will preside over the rite, which will occur during the 10 a.m. Mass.

Burdell will oversee the creation of a student life enrichment program under the Fighting Irish Initiative, a groundbreaking initiative that will fully fund the cost for low-income students to attend Notre Dame — including tuition and fees, room and board, books, transportation and personal expenses.

Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the culture of and recognize the contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans, is being observed in the U.S. from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The University of Notre Dame is marking the month with several events and an award.

University of Notre Dame president Rev. John I Jenkins, C.S.C., and some 500 of the University’s students, faculty and staff will join in welcoming Pope Francis to the United States on his first visit here Sept. 22-27.

University of Notre Dame graduate Sean Cullinan and his wife, Sue, from Glenn Ridge, New Jersey, have made a $20 million gift to his alma mater to fund a groundbreaking program that will make a Notre Dame education a reality for students from households with incomes of less than $50,000.

The Fighting Irish Initiative will fully fund the cost for low-income students to attend Notre Dame — including tuition and fees, room and board, books, transportation and personal expenses. At the same time, the initiative will create a comprehensive enrichment program that will help these students get the most from their Notre Dame experience.

We, a group of 19 Notre Dame students and three chaperones, have been chosen by Campus Ministry to visit a site that formed these modern saints and literally follow in their footsteps. We’re asked to do more than sightsee and work on volunteer projects while on the island; we’re also asked to be open to conversion and grace as we each discern our vocation and aspire to sainthood. It is a tall and ambiguous order.

And so, the Friday before the March spring break, we find ourselves on a bus, barreling toward O’Hare airport at 5 in the morning, groggy, nervous and uncertain of what’s to come. It seems most of us signed up for the same reason: to see a part of Hawaii we may never otherwise experience. But as for what we hope to take away, that part is less clear.